Cruising Forums

Auzzee · 09-13-2012, 02:21 AM

I just read an article in the Bangkok Post newspaper about a fisherman who washed ashore after losing his boat off Alaska. He was wearing a survival suit.

I have long considered buying such a suit. I wonder if anyone else has them as part of their survival inventory. How long would it take to put such a suit on and once clad, would one still be dexterous enough to continue to battle a severe storm? Could you dress in one of these suits within the confines of a small vessel which was in danger of going down, all the while being pitched and tossed in a tempest?

They are not expensive from a relative viewpoint and are buoyant, waterproof and provide very effective insulation against the cold.

Heres a link if you are not familiar with a variety of these suits
Immersion Suits

redbopeep · 09-13-2012, 04:00 AM

Umm, was the person they found dead or alive?

My husband and I call these immersion suits "gumbie suits" for all the obvious reasons. We don't have them, but only because we haven't sailed in cold enough waters. The winter waters off the US West Coast including California coast are cold enough (high 40's off WA, OR up to 55 F off SoCal) to worry about hypothermia if one falls overboard.

All the Alaskan fishermen have them and the smart ones practice putting them on quickly. If you get a chance to watch the reality TV show called "Deadliest Catch" which is about the crab fish boats in AK, you'll see people practicing putting them on quickly. You'll also see the sad, sad footage of USCG helicopters over top of dead people in the water in these survival suits. The time that a person can last in the cold water even with a immersion suit is typically minutes to hours, not days. And--no, really it doesn't look like you can do much of anything if you're in one of those suits.

Fair winds,

Auzzee · 09-13-2012, 04:23 AM

Fair comment! The bloke who got to shore was alive and apparently had found the suit floating in the water after the ship went down. It seems there is a reasonable difference between immersion suits and cold water survival suits. The latter, complete with lifting harness, light and whistle etc is about $500.

But I guess the best strategy remains the liferaft.
Cheers B.